Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Fiftieth Report of Session 2013-14 from the Committee of Public Accounts, the rural broadband programme, HC 834, what work his Department has done with local authorities to identify in its rollout of broadband (a) alternative solutions, (b) opportunities for joint working, (c) ways to obtain fair capital contributions from suppliers and (d) other support to promote competition and value for money in its rural broadband rollout.

The Department undertook extensive market engagement prior to start of phase 2 of the superfast broadband programme. It also consulted with 45 Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations. This review found that no operator other than BT currently had the capacity, capability and interest to deliver at a national scale. The Department therefore continued with its previous delivery model which allows Local Bodies to take responsibility for procurements using either the national framework contract with BT, new OJEU procurements, or change requests to existing contracts (subject to materiality limits). Four Local Bodies are undertaking their own OJEU procurements to test local markets and up to ten Local Bodies have kept aside part of their funding which they may deploy using alternative procurement routes. The Department is also supporting eight market test projects to explore new approaches to delivery to premises which will not be within the 95 per cent of premises covered by the main superfast broadband programme. As set out in the National Audit Office’s memorandum of 28 January 2015, a recent independent review of BT’s costs for delivery of a sample of cabinets which was carried out for the Department has found these to be around 20 per cent lower than those of a typical efficient operator. The Department is confident that the broadband programme is delivering value for money.